It's coming, possibly very soon. It may not even arrive with
this imminent war with Iraq, but surely it is coming. Americans
don't have a clue that its arrival draws nigh. But surely,
as the cruise missiles are being fueled and the artillery
shells are being loaded, the day is coming. What is it, you
ask? It is of course, the true nature of war, a bloodbath.
On all sides. Including America's.

Americans are a smug, arrogant lot right now, what with the
near-zero pain of the Panama, Gulf War and Kosovo experiences
behind us (though not Afghanistan). But those 'wars' have
led to an arrogance and ignorance that is staggering in its
depth and breadth. One would think that 9/11 taught this country
something, but all evidence points to a very depressing conclusion.
Americans think they are invincible in war, and divinely righteous
in their cause. A recipe for disaster in any day and age,
but horrible in its implications when applied to a prolonged
ground war in the Middle East these days.

One hears it today in the discussions of 'regime change'
in Iraq. (Leave it to Mr. Bush's administration to come up
with a new euphemism for the English word 'assassination').
An article on the 'Slate' website chided Germany's squeamishness
and timidity at the idea of another triumphant American victory.
Obviously, the author had never had his country leveled after
his Government proclaimed the establishment of a 'Thousand
Year Empire'. Then, in another article from that same site,
there is a short discussion on American casualties. Proclaiming
the worst case scenario to be around 4000 American dead, the
article states, like so much other war propaganda, that losses
will be 'minimal' (tell that to 4000 American families. Obviously
they don't count, and neither do Iraqis).

Now given the green light after the November 2002 election
enabled the Republicans to seize control of the entire Government,
the Boy King's unbridled hubris will lead to a major conflagration,
beginning in Iraq. The U.S. has no idea as to what is about
to transpire, blind-folded by American flags flying on all
the television screens. They don't have any idea that their
leader has a taste for blood and a desire to see the fulfillment
promised after Armageddon.

And considering the population explosion in the Middle East,
the prospect for armed conflict there is foreboding indeed,
if we declare perpetual war against that volatile region.
For this conflict will be nothing like the Cold War. You see,
the Russians had no desire to see their children die in a
futile conflict. In the Middle East, it is practically celebrated.
In the hopelessness and despair spawned by grinding poverty
and authoritarian repression, the field is fertile for spawning
an infinite supply of young people to launch all manner of
attacks against the West and its allies. Europe knows this.
The U. S. is without one ounce of comprehension about the
scale of death and destruction that our present course will
lead us.

So now we embark on a deadly course, the likes of which will
lead to vast bloodshed across this next century. Soon we will
be building a monument alongside the other edifice dedicated
to an equally preventable conflagration in Vietnam. The caption
engraved at the top should read, "We should have seen it coming".

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